ALHFAM Bulletin

Demonstrating the Making of Apple Butter

by Susan Odom food was adopted by many people in the United States, spreading to Apple Butter is a traditional food in tables beyond Pennsylvania Dutch the United States. Annually made on communities. 3 As it gained in many nineteenth century farms, it was popularity, the Heinz company popularized by Pennsylvania Dutch included it in their line of products. and subsequently spread to the general It was commonly served at each population. I have developed a meal and many families made a “traveling” apple butter demonstration large batch each fall to last that has proven very popular with throughout the year. visitors at historic sites and orchards. It might be a successful program for Here is my recipe and process for other historic sites. making apple butter that you may find useful: People ate a lot of apple butter in the nineteenth century as we can see in Supplies Stirring the apple butter into the night the following diary entry from a typical hours. All photographs by Susan Odom. · Large copper kettle, preferable farmwife in Iowa in the late 1880s: thirty-gallon capacity. The kettle …borrowed P. Dows Kettle this morning then should be large enough to accommodate messy pickled apples to make the apple butter. We stirring. They may be purchased at antique shops boiled down two barrels of cider into one, or on eBay. New ones are also available, but are peeled the apples ready for making apple expensive. butter Monday… Elmer and I made apple butter, took off 17 gallons about five Oclock. 1 · Kettle stand. This is an iron tripod designed to hold the kettle. Pots can be hung over a fire, but stirring is easier if the pot is stationary. Yes you read that right, seventeen gallons of apple butter! It was the spread of choice on bread. Jams · Wooden apple butter paddle. The paddle end is and jellies were often reserved for cake. 2 Apple butter perpendicular to the handle and has holes in it. was cheap to make and the traditional method did not The handle is usually four to eight feet long. use sugar. Many nineteenth-century farmers grew Make one or buy one at Lehman’s hardware apples and apple butter was a common way to preserve store in Kidron, Ohio. Antique paddles do not them. The making of apple butter was often a stand up well to the abuse of the cooking pro- communal activity that provided a time for socializing. cess. Folks would have time to talk while peeling apples · Large lard or laundry paddle. Any generic paddle and stirring the pot. for domestic use will work. · Firewood. Approximately a face cord of cut Pennsylvania Dutch settlers were the first to make wood is needed. Scrap wood, old fence, etc. will apple butter in the new world. In their homeland of work. Germany, fruit butters were usually made of plums or pears. In the new world those fruits were scarce and · Table. A horizontal work surface will be needed apples became the favorite fruit for the spread. This near the kettle.

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· Bowls. Five or six large, historically accurate I have also done a larger batch of fifteen gallons of bowls or pots will be needed to hold peeled cider and three bushels of apples. My quantities and apples, etc. techniques are based on reading different apple butter · An assortment of knives, cutting boards, wooden recipes and suggestions from many historic cookbooks. spoons, kitchen towels, cutlery and a saucepan Please contact me for a list of historic apple butter for scooping. recipes.

· Plastic storage containers. These are for storing Preparations the Day Before apples overnight, especially if you do not have enough period-appropriate bowls or crocks. Warning! Do not store any apple butter products in a · Mechanical peelers. A functional apple peeler will copper pot or your apple butter will taste like pennies! work well. Display an antique one in the area for Do not even let your apple butter begin to cool down interpretive purposes. in a copper pot. As soon as you remove the pot from the heat, remove the apple butter. As the apple butter · Nutmeg grater. Use the grater for grating whole cools, copper begins to leach into it. This does not nutmegs and for interpretive purposes. The grater is good to have if you choose to use pre-ground occur during cooking, only during cooling. nutmeg in the butter. I learned this the hard way when I was on staff at a · Stoneware crocks, tissue paper, heavy writing Michigan historic site. We spoiled several batches paper, brandy, and eggs are needed for storing before we discovered the problem. Mrs. Lettice Bryan the butter. offered this advice in 1839: · Ten gallons of apple cider and two bushels of mixed variety apples. This usually makes about Do not use for this purpose an iron kettle, or two gallons of apple butter. Also have available the butter will be very dark, and if you use a ground cinnamon, and four to five nutmegs or brass or copper kettle, it must be scoured as ground nutmeg. clean and bright as possible, before you put the cider into it and you must not suffer the butter to remain in it a minute longer than is actually necessary to prepare it, or it will imbibe a “copperish” taste, that will render it not only unpleasant, but really unhealthy. 4

Allow time for preparation. You can make the apple butter in one day if all the ingredients are prepared ahead of time. Early preparation is the key to success. The apples should be peeled, cored and sliced the day before. This is a big job and mechanical peelers can make it easier. I use a hand cranked mechanical peeler from Lehman’s. It is designed after a late nineteenth century style apple peeler. I quarter the peeled apples and use a small knife to remove the core and seeds from each quarter. Then I cut each into several pieces. It does not matter if the apples start to turn brown. Various sizes of apple butter paddles. The smallest paddle is a They will become brown in the apple butter anyway. lard or laundry paddle used for measuring the cider. The wine After the apples are prepared, store them in large bottle is for scale. bowls or plastic containers and cover. I don’t refrigerate them over night since I don’t usually have

Page 25 ALHFAM Bulletin that much refrigerator space. They have never spoiled Again you can have a rather big fire. When I first or soured overnight. This preparation can be started making apple butter I was afraid of having a incorporated into the demonstration. If you are large fire. I thought I might scorch the apple butter demonstrating apple butter over two days, day one and that it would be better if it was simmered. I’ve would be apple preparation and cider boiling and day changed my mind. One batch of apple butter that I two would be the day apple butter making. stirred for two days tasted like smoke. Smoke flavor in ham or salmon is lovely, but in apple butter it is bad. Now boil down the apple cider to half its original With a good apple butter paddle and constant stirring quantity. To do this, add the cider to the copper pot you will prevent burning even with a big fire. I have and measure it by putting a clean lard paddle in and also discovered that a large fire that produces a rolling making a notch at the level of the cider. Then make a boil in the pot causes the apples to quickly disintegrate second notch half way down from the first. When the and become like a sauce more quickly. If you don’t cider reaches the second notch it is boiled down to boil it fast you will reach a certain point when you half. You can have quite a big fire to boil down the have apple chunks remaining and not enough liquid to cider. Apple butter paddles are quite long so that you cook them down. It is better to quickly get those apples can stand safely back from the large fire while stirring. to fall apart early and then diminish the fire to The cider should be stirred frequently while it is boiling concentrate on reducing the apple butter to the desired down. The frequent stirring causes the release of steam thickness at a lower temperature. that hastens the entire reduction process. I plan on four to five hours to boil the cider down and six to When is the apple butter done? This is somewhat eight hours of cooking after the apples are added. based on personal preference. I have learned that apple butter will thicken as it cools, so it should come off the Work carefully when using a large fire. Be aware of your personal safety and the safety of the visitors. If you are using scrap wood or lumber make sure that it does not protrude into the traffic area. Ask visitors to stay a distance from the fire when you are vigorously stirring. Occasionally stop stirring, let the pot settle for a few seconds and then, when it is safe, invite the visors to peer inside – they will love it! Then offer them the chance to stir the pot.

Apple Butter Making Day

Set up your copper pot on its stand and start a fire beneath it. If the cider was boiled down the day before, heat it up again to boiling before adding the apples all Visitors often enjoy taking a turn stirring. at once. If the cider is already hot, add the apples all at once. fire before it “looks done.” I think it is done when you Now comes the most important thing…STIR, STIR, drag the paddle across the bottom of the pot and the STIR AND NEVER STOP. The pot must be constantly apple butter does not immediately fill in the void left stirred. If you fail to do this it will stick on the bottom by the paddle. Once you decide that the apple butter and burn and make the whole batch of apple butter is done, immediately remove it from the pot. taste bad. It is ideal to have several staff or volunteers Remember the warning – never let the apple butter for this. stand in the pot without heat, or it will taste like pennies.

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After you take it off the heat add cinnamon and nutmeg When it is dry the tissue paper will be tight as a drum. to taste. I start with one tablespoon of cinnamon and Please note that “tissue paper” is a modern word. one grated nutmeg. Mix well, taste it and decide if it Apple butter will keep for many years like this. It may needs more. Don’t overpower the apple butter with start to dry out after a year, but is still good. I’ve never spices. The spices should complement the wonderful had any apple butter develop mold when stored in this taste of the apple butter. They should not be the primary fashion. flavor. Common Visitor Questions Storing Apple Butter Why is it called apple “butter”? “Butter” is another Apple butter was traditionally stored in stoneware word for a spread, like peanut butter. There are many crocks rather than canned. Apple butter has been different kinds of fruit butters including peach, grape, around longer than the canning process. I have plum and more. Apple butter was by far the most successfully stored apple butter in crocks using a popular in the United States. nineteenth-century method many times. Why did they make it? Apple butter was a cheap, Put the apple butter in the crock and smooth over the almost free, food to make. Many nineteenth-century top. Wipe the sides of the crock clean of any drips. farmers and families had their own apple trees. It was Cut a piece of heavy writing paper to fit inside the a convenient way to use up a lot of apples and preserve crock. Soak that paper in brandy for a few seconds them for future use. It was also an opportunity for and place it on top of the apple butter in the crock. socializing. Family and friends were often invited over This is called “brandy paper.” for the peeling and stirring. Everyone took a turn stirring. “Apple butter makings” were often like parties with food and dancing.

What is in apple butter? Apple butter has only apples, cider and few spices in it. Traditional apple butter did not include sugar. Start with cider and boil it down to half. That makes the apple butter just sweet enough. Apple butter was not meant to be as sweet as jelly or jam. It has some sweetness from the cider and tartness from the apples.

My grandmother, aunt, neighbor, used to make apple butter that way. Encourage the visitor to tell Examples of stoneware crocks suitable for storing. you more and use that as a vehicle to make it seem more real to the other visitors present. You might just learn something fascinating from the visitors! Next cut three to four pieces of tissue paper to fit over the top and one to two inches down the side of I wish I could make some! There are recipes for the crock. Place the tissue paper on top of the crock making smaller batches at home. See the recipe for a and smooth down the edges. Use raw egg whites to crock-pot version on Susan Odom’s website at “glue” it into place by wiping them on the edges of the w w w .allaboutfoodways.com. tissue paper and the crock and then wiping some on An apple butter demonstration makes a great addition top of the tissue paper. This is called “egg paper.” to a fall harvest program and is historically and

Page 27 ALHFAM Bulletin culturally appropriate in many parts of the United Bibliography States. It can be a fun activity for visitors. They can Bryan, Mrs. Lettice. The Kentucky Housewife. watch, listen and even take a turn stirring the pot. Cincinnati, Ohio: Shepard and Stearns, 1839. Contact me to discuss any questions you may have. If you don’t have the staff or equipment, I’m available McCormick, Virginia E. Farm Wife, A Self-Por- for hire and would love the chance to make apple butter trait, 1886-1896. Edited by Virginia E. at your site! a McCormick. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University, 1990. Endnotes Weaver, William Woys. A Quaker Woman’s Cook- book, The Domestic Cookery of Elizabeth 1 Virginia E. McCormick, Farm Wife, A Self- Ellicott Lea. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Portrait, 1886-1896 ( Ames, Iowa: Iowa State Stackpole Book, 2004. University, 1990), 83. Weaver, William Woys. Sauerkraut Yankees. 2 William Woys Weaver, Sauerkraut Yankees Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2002), 152. 2002.

3 William Woys Weaver, A Quaker Woman’s About the Author Cookbook, The Domestic Cookery of Elizabeth Ellicott Lea. (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Book, Susan Odom loves to explore, experiment with and attempt to 2004), 311-313. unravel the mysteries of historic American cooking and foodways. 4 Mrs. Lettice Bryan, The Kentucky Housewife Delving into her collection of historic and reproduction cook books (Cincinnati, Ohio: Shepard and Stearns, 1839), 376. and cooking equipment, she finds recipes to try and re-try. As an independent historic foodways specialist, she specializes in nineteenth- century American foodways. Susan offers historical cooking demonstrations, presentations, living history, classes, research and consulting.

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19 th Century History, Music, Museum Research Associates Stories, and Dance performed 11 Spring Street, Hallowell, Maine 04347 for Schools, Historic Sites, 207-395-4837 [email protected] Museums and Communities Fine Letterpress Printing....Consulting for your Katie Boardman museum or historic site, letterpress printing for historic documents, wedding invitations, stationery. PO Box 666 607-547-9300 Contact Tom or Bonnie Strassell, 859-643-0343, Cooperstown, NY 13326 [email protected] [email protected].

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